The Negotiation
by limegreen124
Summary: The secret of the demigods existence has been found out. Only President Snow knows, and he tells the half bloods that he will tell nobody as long as they submit only one of the campers into the 71st annual Hunger Games. (I really suck at summaries)


**Hi, so this is my story. It might suck, it might not, you never know. I'm just going to roll with the punches on this thing so if you enjoy the story tell me so I will keep writing it! Your reviews are always appreciated.**

_Annabeth_

Three weeks, five days and four hours.

That's how long it's been since they took Percy away from me.

I had been worried sick ever since the so called "peacekeepers" showed up at Camp Half-Blood with a man in a suite and a lady who looked like a clown threw up on her.

I remembered that they strutted into camp like they owned the place, every camper had a sword in their hand the minute they saw the car pull up. The man, who later had told the camp that his official title was President Snow, was surrounded by the peacekeepers with their weapons drawn.

He told the camp that we were found out, that our world was no longer secretive, and he knew everything about us. We almost laughed when he first told us, thinking that there was no way this old man would have known anything, because it was obvious that he had no connection to our world.

It was when he described the Battle of Manhattan in grave detail, when he told us that he knew about the Prophecy of Seven and how me, Percy, Leo, Jason, Piper, Hazel, and Frank went around the globe on a flying ship and single-handedly stopped one of the most feared creatures in all of creation from waking and destroying the planet that we finally believed that he actually knew about us and that our age old secret, kept for thousands of years, was finally out.

Chiron demanded to know how he found out, but all he said was that it didn't matter how he found out, only that he knew.

He told us how when the public found out about who we really were, that they would be hated and feared. He told them how we were never going to be able to live a normal life again. I'm not going to lie it sacred most of the campers, it even scared me a little bit, and being hated in not one world but two, just the thought of it is painful. Even so, I would never admit it out loud.

He made a deal with us, he assured us that only he and his most trusted advisors knew about us and he intended to let the knowledge die with him, as long as we did what he said.

He told us that he hosted a televised event every year called the Hunger Games, in which 24 tributes between the ages of 12 and 18 were forced to compete in. He told us that the 12 districts that he was in charge of sent one boy and one girl into the games each year and for this year only, he wanted to make Camp Half-Blood an honorary District. He even said that we didn't have to send two tributes from the camp, but then we would have to vote on who would compete. If we didn't want to elect someone, we would leave it up to chance with the reaping ceremony and send 2 tributes instead of one.

He told us that if we did simply that, then he would leave the Camp and completely ignore its existence and make up and excuse that the one year honorary district was act of respect to the nation of Panem (I had never heard of it before, but later found out that it was a small nation off the coast of Australia, that hardly ever traded with any country, since it already had most of its needed resources at hand).

If we declined his offer, he would send his a thousand men to our camp and burn it to the ground. We tried to ask his what the Hunger Games was, but he told us that if we knew then the offer was off the table and the alternative option would take place.

After an afternoon of discussing with Chiron and the cabin leaders, we figured that the safest way out was to enter in the Games, but we decided to vote on who to go, we didn't need to send away anymore campers than we had to.

Naturally, the winner was Percy, even I voted for him. He is honestly our best shot at winning, he was quick and good at thinking on his feet. He wasn't the smartest demigod out there but, he is one of the best.

President Snow assured us that he would only be gone for two-three weeks depending on how long the games lasted. When we went to the dining hall to see who had won, cameras followed out every move, broadcasting it live to the audiences of the twelve districts. President Snow asked if anyone wanted to volunteer to take his place, but no one spoke.

It was by far one of the weirdest sights I have ever witnessed, watching my boyfriend walk up the hall with cameras following his every move, receiving forced cheers from the other campers and getting and slap on the back from Leo who told him to, "Kick some tribute ass for him."

It was even funnier to see the woman who was wearing a bright pastel blue dress the hugged her in weird places and a ridicules amount of makeup try to balance on her 7-inch heels and hug Percy at the same time. She introduced herself as Felicity Whitley and she would be Percy's "advisor" for the games. Everything that he would do would reflect on her, and everything she would do would reflect on him. She concluded by turning to Percy and saying that they were going to be "the best of friends!", her smile that was plastered on her face grew even bigger, if that was possible. Percy looked at me with a look that screamed 'HELP ME', but I just sat there and laughed.

We had a 1 minute and 30 seconds to say goodbye, none of us expected him to leave so soon. Everyone involved with the prophecy plus Nico came to say goodbye. He received a kiss on the check from Piper and Hazel, slap on the back from Jason and Frank, telling him that he would do great, a tackle hug from Leo which got a laugh, and he received a slight head nod from Nico. He finally came up to me and pulled me into a tight hug and held me for a few seconds. He whispered I love you in my ear, which made my heart do a little flip flop.

"Times up." One of the peacekeepers said, and he literally came up to Percy and pried him off of me. He tried to give me a kiss but he was being pulled away to fast. As he was being pulled out the door, he looked back and shouted "Hey, I'll be back soon enough, I promise!"

That was almost four weeks ago, almost double the time of what president snow had said. I had been worried from the start about him, I just never had a good feelings about these games, and now I was starting to really worry.

President Snow was gracious enough to give us updates on how he was doing since we weren't allowed to watch the games ourselves. Apparently he was a fan favorite to win (of course), and he wasn't far from it, there were only two players left in the competition besides Percy, and the last update was 3 days ago.

The weeks have been stressful for me, mostly because I was the only one worrying about Percy once the second week hit. The first week the campers tried their best to guess what the Hunger Games actually were, The Stoll brothers thought it was a game where you had to stuff your face with food until you couldn't eat anymore, and the last one eating would win. Some thought it was a game where the players couldn't eat, and others thought that Percy would have to cook some food to impress some judges. I honestly didn't know what to think, and I found it very odd that they wouldn't tell us what the games where about, and very suspicious.

I went to Chiron a number of times, he had the same suspicions as me, but he told me that he was doing all he could and that I shouldn't bring up any negative thoughts about the Hunger Games around other campers so I wouldn't scare them.

So I didn't, I kept my mouth shut for the entire time Percy was gone. And I have to say I am very proud of myself.

The next morning when we walked up to the dining hall to eat breakfast, two Peacekeepers guarded the door. When we approached, we were asked to remove all weapons before entering, everybody tried to only give away their visible weapons, but the metal detector that they has apparently installed overnight went off like a siren, and soon everybody was weaponless.

The hall looked completely different than what it normally looked like, the tables were removed and replaced neat rows of chairs. The backs of the chairs were decorated with each the symbol with each cabin in the camp, which meant that we still had to sit with our cabin. I walked over to the Athena section when I heard Leo yell from across the room.

"Yo Annabeth! You have a chair up here with your name on it, literally! Come up and sit with the cool kids!"

I looked at him with confusion, but I went up anyway. He motioned me to my seat and sure enough, my name was printed in cursive writing with an owl behind the letters. I looked around and noticed that all members of the seven, minus Percy, all had reserved seats in the front row. I sat down and felt a pit drop in my stomach. Why didn't Percy have a seat?

I asked Piper, but she told me not to worry, that this whole thing was probably for him anyway and he wasn't supposed to sit down.

I nodded, but that didn't make me feel better at all.

Chiron was sitting in the front in his wheelchair, giving me a reassuring nod and a smile. Mr. D was still not back, recovering from Multiple Personality Disorder, so it was only him in the front.

A in a black uniform came up and motioned everybody to be quite. Once we were quite he looked at us, "We are about to go live, when Caesar Flickerman enters, the guy with the blue hair, look excited and cheer." He told us, then he ran into the other room.

We all looked around confused, but then a man with blue hair burst in through the back entrance. He had a huge smile plastered on his face and the cameras roared to life.

Most of the kids looked started to clap but, kept the confused expression. A few people looked genially excited and the Stoll brothers stood up and hollered at the top of their lungs.

Caesar made his way up front, and laughed and turned to the cameras.

"Welcome ladies and gentlemen to the post-game interview!" He laughed, the campers applauded feeling it was the right thing to do.

"Today we are not in our normal studio, but we are in the home of the very victor that swept Panem by storm and made all the ladies fall in love. We welcome this year's victor home, Percy Jackson!" Caesar told a camera with a smile as he motioned his arm back to the front door.

I spun around and there was Percy, making his way up the middle isle. He was wearing a solid white suite with his usual shaggy black hair was slicked back. Then I saw his face, he stared straight forward and he wore the same expression he always wore when he came out of a fight with a monster.

About three steps in is when the show started. His solid white suite suddenly caught fire on various places on the suite. The white material slowly burned away as he walked leaving behind a skin tight black suite that looked like burning embers in a fire.

Percy didn't even blink when his suite burned away, he just kept walking. Everybody was stunned to silence as he walked, when he got to the front to the hall he caught my eye for a split second, and his expression softened, but then he looked back straight forward and kept walking till he was next to Caesar.

The embers on his suite died out when he turned to face us. Caesar grabbed his wrist and flung it into the air. Percy looked down at a camera and forced a smile on his face.

The hall instantly erupted in applause, cheering for Percy. I wasn't entirely sure if it was genuine or not, but Percy kept trying to smile for the cameras and the audience but he you could see the hurt in his eyes and the disgust. I knew that something was very wrong and I looked to Percy to see if he was okay, when he caught my eye, he must have seen the worry because he shook his head no ever so slightly, and my heart dropped.

"Today's interview will not be a normal interview, I will not be hosting it, but the President himself!" Caesar said as the president of the made his way next to Percy. Percy didn't show any sign of respect for the man, in fact he looked like he was holding back from punching him.

"I know that everybody here with me today do not know the rules of the Hunger Games. The team that created the games have put together a little show to give you a basic understanding of the Games." President Snow said, backing away from Percy. Percy shot him a confused expression, clearly having no idea what was going on. Then he looked forward and he froze.

I turned back to see what he was staring at and I saw a little girl standing at the entrance of the hall. She looked about 12 with long wavy brown hair and an angelic pale face. She looked beautiful standing there in a white dress. She wasn't wearing shoes, but I couldn't help but get the feeling that she didn't belong here.

She started to walk forward and all eyes were on her, she didn't seem to notice the kids and the camera staring at her, she kept all her attention on Percy. I turned back to see Percy and he looked horrified. As the girl approached Percy he stared to back away, as if she was carrying a deadly disease.

"Percy?" The little girl asked, looking up to Percy, she only came up to about his waist, but he stayed frozen.

After a few seconds, he blinked and started to crouch down to her level, his arm cautiously reaching out to her.

"Lana?" He asked still in a daze.

"Did you win?" Lana asked him curiously.

"Yes, I won, but how-"Percy breathed, still staring at her. He was cut off when she beamed a huge smile at him and jumped in his arms. Percy gasped and stayed frozen in shock for a second, then he wrapped his arms around Lana. He had started cry, burying his face in her neck saying something that sounded like, "I'm sorry."

She pulled away, still smiling, when a spear launched out of nowhere, barely missing Percy, and hit Lana directly in the stomach.

I jumped up from my chair at started running towards her, put a peacekeeper held me back. I struggled against him, but it was no use. I looked to Chiron, but his chair was being held by another peacekeeper and he didn't dare get up of his chair with all the cameras.

"Congratulations." Lana choked, and she fell into Percy's arms.

Percy cradled her in his arms, he started screaming and crying. I could see him try to think of ways to save her, but she obviously wasn't a demigod, ambrosia wouldn't work on her, she was dying.

"No! I am not losing you again, no please!" Percy screamed. A second later, her feet caught on fire, the line of fire traveling at a fast rate up her body and she burned away like a piece of paper, a second later, there wasn't even any ash on the floor.

Percy's arms were still in the cradling position, he still had a horrified expression on his face. He put his hand over his mouth and bent down trying to get control of himself.

"Percy." A soft voice said.

Everybody spun around to see an older girl who appeared out of nowhere. She looked about 16, with shoulder length fiery red hair, in the same white dress as Lana had on.

Percy almost collapsed completely on the floor, as he started to back away, losing himself. But the girl just looked down on him sadly, holding out her hand.

"No, not you to, please no." Percy begged, all I could do is sit there and watch because of the Peacekeeper holding me back. I struggled, but again, it was no use.

She knelt down to him and cupped his face with her hand.

"It's okay." She said soothingly, she helped Percy to his feet. He stood slowly, not taking his eyes off of her.

"It should have been me, you should have won, I am so sorry." Percy told her desperately. She just looked at him with a sad expression and leaned in and kissed him on the check.

She pulled back and looked back at Percy with tears forming in her eyes, "Everything's going to be okay." She told him with a tear streaming down her face.

A knife appeared in her hand. Percy looked down and saw it and stared to scream in protest, knowing what she was going to do. Before Percy could rip the knife out of her hands, she quickly jerked it directly into her heart. Her eyes rolled back in her head and she stared to fall backwards. Percy reached out to catch her but just like Lana, she burned away in less than a second, she was gone before Percy could even touch her.

Percy stood there with tears streaming down his face, completely in shock. Nobody dared to move, not even Chiron. It was President Snow who broke the shocked silence.

"You just saw the two tributes Lana Wakeman from District 4 and Zahara Evans from District 2 that allied themselves with Percy Jackson, both had the misfortune of losing the games. What you saw was not actually the two girls but simply a holographic image of them, and using the latest technology available, we could make them talk and you could actually feel like they were physically touching you, though the actually were never there.

"This was a presentation to give you a basic understanding of the Hunger Games. The Hunger Games is a contest between the 24, this year 25, tributes whom are placed in an arena with enough supplies to last every tribute about a week and about 50 different kinds of weapons, and are set to fight to the death, and all events are broadcasted live on TV with hidden cameras. The last one alive receives the title of Victor. So as you see we did not murder these girls in cold blood, we simply replayed their deaths. The victor of this year's Hunger Games was none other than Percy Jackson!" President Snow explained motioning to Percy. Percy had stopped crying, he stood stone cold, his face expressionless. Nobody clapped this time, all just stared at Percy in silence. Connor Stoll was the first to break the silence.

"What the hell is wrong with you people?!" He shouted, looking as horrified as everyone else in the room. Two peacekeepers came up behind Connor grabbed him by his arms and started to drag him out of the hall. Many jumped up, trying to stop them, but since these were grown men and since we had our weapons removed before we entered the dining hall, nobody could do anything.

"Anymore outbursts?" President Snow asked. In the silence that followed, we heard a crack of a whip and a cry in the distance. Travis tried to stand up and run to his brother, but a peacekeeper stood in front of him, years of combat raining told him that without a weapon, he could never get pass him, so he silently sat back down in his seat.

"Good."

**I was going to continue, but this is long enough and it's 2 A.M., so I'll just stop here. So tell me if you liked it, hated it, or thought it was weird. Again you reviews are greatly appreciated and I'll post the next chapter faster the more reviews I get :)**


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